The Cat Show was inevitable: an art exhibition devoted to the feline as internet meme, domestic partner, and kitsch icon. Contemporary cat tropes were as bound to spill into art spaces as the boom of advertising was irresistible fodder for the “pictures generation” forty years ago.
The temptation is to dismiss The Cat Show, now on view at White Columns, as pandering: like a motorcycle exhibition or Harry Potter at the Discovery Center. The Walker Art Center presented a wildly popular Int... [more]

If you thought it couldn’t get worse than Tony Tasset’s giant fiberglass eyeball and cardinal banners last summer, then you were unpleasantly surprised by the unveiling of the latest public work of art commissioned by Chicago Loop Alliance. At least Tasset’s EYE was ridiculous and fun; it was a discrete work of art and was specifically commissioned as such. Kay Rosen’s project GO DO GOOD is an “inspirational” six-story mural tucked away above and behind the Old Navy at the corner of State and Wa... [more]

I have grown to love Rosen’s unique deadpan combination of careful text manipulation and minimal aesthetics over the years, but this group of work tends towards disappointment. This exhibition at Gallery 400 collects a video, a display case of works on paper with more works on paper on the walls. It has changed over the course of its run since opening alongside Michael Ruglio-Misurell’s “Project #12” in August.
An interesting moment occurred in the exhibition as Ruglio-Misurell’s accumulation... [more]